CGOTS Announcements

The Conference Group on Taiwan Studies new website is live! Our first announcement is our call for paper proposals for the 2018 American Political Science Association Annual Conference, to be held in Boston, MA, August 30-Sept 2, 2018. The deadline for submission is January 16, 2018. Please see below for details.

As a Related Group, CGOTS has a separate review process for our limited panel allotment. To maximize the number of Taiwan-related papers across the annual conference, we encourage applicants to submit their paper proposals to another division first, and to list CGOTS as your second choice division; we will look especially favorably during our review on proposals that have not been accepted at other Divisions or Related Groups and have been transferred to us.

Conference Group on Taiwan Studies Call for Papers

The 2018 American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting will be held from August 30 to September 2, 2018, in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference theme is “Democracy and Its Discontents.”

CGOTS invites paper and panel proposals on Taiwan’s domestic politics and cross-Strait and international relations that are consistent with the theme of “Democracy and Its Discontents.”

These are challenging times for democracy around the world. In many established democracies, the aftermath of the 2008 and the 2011 economic crises is opening up new spaces for new challengers and popular grievances. The complex relationship between national systems of rule and a global economy is leading to greater tensions both within democracies and between them. Existing rules and party systems are under strain as new cleavages emerge, with populism, nativism, and illiberalism all jostling for popular support, as well as new experiments in representation. Developed democratic systems are experiencing greater discontent among voters. Global flows of people, capital, and investment undermine national identities and institutional arrangements. At the same time, there are challenges to the legitimacy of international institutions that are seen as limiting economic and democratic choices.

For the 2018 Annual Meeting, we encourage participants to consider questions about “Democracy and Its Discontents” in Taiwan, especially those that speak to the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan’s democracy, its political transformation in recent decades, and the domestic and factors that continue to influence its politics. These could include questions about shifts in Taiwanese public opinion: has it become less polarized, for instance, on questions of national identity and cross-Strait relations, and how do those differences relate to age, gender, and socioeconomic status? Do Taiwanese citizens by and large still support democratic ideals, and are they happy with how democracy is working? Taiwan’s domestic political economy is another topic with comparative relevance: for instance, what are the causes and consequences of rising inequality, stagnant wages, an aging society, and its shifting place in international economic relations? Taiwan has thus far been spared much of the illiberal populist backlash that has led to political upheaval in many other democracies, young as well as old: but why? For how long? With what consequences for Taiwan’s party system, its electoral politics, and the quality of its democracy? More concretely, was the increase in social mobilization that culminated in the Sunflower Movement in 2014 a backlash against broader forces of globalization, a narrower concern about cross-Strait relations and national identity, or some combination of the two?

We would also especially welcome proposals that consider in innovative ways the evolution of the China factor in Taiwan’s politics. In what ways has the PRC’s influence changed over recent years? What have been the long-term consequences of its deepening economic ties to the island and the increasing exchanges of people and goods across the Taiwan Strait—particularly those occurring as a result of agreements signed during the Ma Ying-jeou era? Proposals might also address the abrupt changes in cross-Strait dialogue now that a DPP government is back in power and Beijing has given it the cold shoulder, or the other regional and international opportunities and challenges facing the Tsai administration, including relations with the new administration in the United States.

Please submit proposals to APSA: (https://connect.apsanet.org/apsa2018/) no later than January 16, 2018.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Kharis Templeman (kharis@stanford.edu), CGOTS Coordinator. Travel support for CGOTS panelists is subject to the availability of external funding.